Mount Seymour United Church Rev. Nancy Talbot recognizes United Church leaders and members can subtly put down men. One national church website, she says, ran a photo portraying an otherwise normal-looking nuclear family, but with an out-of-it dad distracted on his cellphone.

Rev. Nancy Talbot feels like one of the more blessed female clergy. When the North Vancouver minister looks out on the pews on any given Sunday, she feels fortunate her small congregation is slowly growing and that at least men make up roughly three in 10 of those at worship.

The gender imbalance could be far worse. The minister at Mount Seymour United Church is painfully aware men have been quietly, but in huge numbers, streaming away from many of North America’s Christian churches.

“I don’t think many of us have answers to why it’s happening,” says Talbot, who has led Mount Seymour United for eight years while raising two boys in a same-sex relationship with her partner, Brenda.

While Talbot wonders if many men have lost interest in the church because it no longer confers social status, another part of her worries men have been turned off by a church that might be reflecting the subtle devaluing of men that’s prevalent in secular culture.

Whatever the causes, the loss of church men and boys has caused a dramatic rise in the proportion of female members – and female clergy – in Canada’s liberal-to-moderate denominations. And it’s causing mixed feelings.

Many applaud the advance of women within certain wings of Christianity, such as the United, Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist and Lutheran denominations.

U.S. studies have found 37 per cent of liberal congregations, representing more than 17 million Christians, are now led by women. And a recent survey by Faith Matters found wide approval; with more than three in four of all Americans convinced females should be permitted to be clergy.

At the same time, however, many worry about the so-called “feminization” of the Christian church.

Both genders are concerned that somehow, for reasons no one seems able to clearly explain, the rise of women in the church is not working for a huge number of men.

Have women won the rights battle in many churches, while losing the war?

There are many signs to support his gloomy scenario. When The United Church Observer magazine did a readership survey this year, fewer than three in 10 respondents were men, and most of those men were seniors.

Even though Ewart does not make a direct connection between the gender of clergy and church attendance rates, he notes half the United Church’s 2,400 active clergy are female, a shift similar to that occurring in secular education, health care and government services.

What’s more, he’s baffled that only one of the 25 largest congregations in the United Church of Canada has a female as its lead minister.

After another decade of United Church priests retiring, Ewart projects, four of five of the remaining clergy will be female.

And, given the United Church began ordaining homosexuals in 1992, some of the denomination’s gay clergy expect that roughly half of the small cohort of remaining male ministers will be homosexual.

What is happening to other Christian denominations in regards to men?

ANGLICAN CHURCH

The Anglican Church of Canada doesn’t keep as precise statistics on gender as the United Church.

ButDon Grayston, a Vancouver Anglican priest and former Simon Fraser University religious studies instructor, says gender trends within North American Anglicanism are “the same” as those in the United Church of Canada.

“It’s a tendency that needs to be watched for the sake of balance,” says Grayston, who has observed, anecdotally, that roughly four-fifths of those sitting in the pews in most Canadian Anglican congregations are female.

Another sign of the times? When Canada’s Anglican Journal conducted an online poll of members, it found the “vast majority” of more than 4,000 responses came from females. Concomitantly, all seven staff of the Anglican Journal are women.

Canadian Anglicans began ordaining women in 1975 (almost four decades after the United Church did so). As a result, the denomination now has 1,156 female priests and 2,600 male priests. But those figures include

After another decade of United Church of Canada priests retiring, Rev. David Ewart projects, four of five of the remaining clergy will be female.

retired Anglican priests, almost all of whom are male.

But the gender lens should not be focused solely on liberal-to-moderate Protestant denominations. It’s worth pointing out that many in the relatively conservative Roman Catholic church are also wondering where the boys and men have gone.

OTHER CHURCHES AND RELIGIONS

Roman Catholic parishes, even though they are exclusively headed by male priests who have vowed celibacy, are also populated mainly by women. In 2010, Statistics Canada’s General Social Survey suggested roughly two out of three of those filling Catholic pews are female.

Most growing evangelical congregations, such as Pentecostal, Baptist and Mennonite, have also retained patriarchal leadership, predominantly of married men.

They are doing somewhat better at attracting males. Evangelical membership is not as strongly skewed to females as liberal or Catholic churches.

According to studies, the only major Christian tradition that has truly bucked the mostly female trend is Eastern Orthodoxy, which remains strong among Greeks, Russians and people in the Middle East.

And several non-Christian religions may also be holding onto men in Canada.

Although limited data are available, polling by University of Lethbridge sociologist Reg Bibby suggests Sikh, Jewish and Muslim religions are followed by at least as many men as women.

But Buddhist and Hindu congregations join most Christian congregations in Canada in being mostly female.

Almost everyone seems puzzled.

SEARCH FOR CAUSES

Some believe a kind of perfect storm of social movements is causing North American men to be less interested in religion, especially Christianity.

For her part, Rev. Nancy Talbot wonders if one reason men are staying away from the United Church is that religion no longer confers the social status it did in the 1950s. Yet, Talbot also recognizes United Church leaders and members can subtly put down men. One national church website, she says, ran a photo portraying an otherwise normal-looking nuclear family, but with an out-of-it dad distracted on his cellphone.

On occasion, Talbot has also heard some church women remark about heterosexual husbands in a “stereotypical and unflattering way,” which would be unacceptable about a same-sex partner.

Even though it’s worth trying to figure out why this might be happening, Talbot is not alone in thinking the most important thing is reaching out – to again make men feel welcome in Christian settings.

As national bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada, Vancouver-raised Susan Johnson worries that if men continue to stay away from the pews, “It would be a reverse kind of gender isolation, which wouldn’t be helpful.”

CELEBRATING STRENGTH

Many church people, however, are still focused on celebrating women’s rising strength in Christianity.

Even though feminist Protestant theologians have been influential since the 1970s, there is still a long way to go in the wider Christian church to attain parity in leadership roles.

Only half of all congregations in the U.S. allow females as clergy – with Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and most evangelical congregations still barring women. The situation is similar in Canada.

Rev. Susan Johnson, national bishop of the 139,000-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, says: “For women it’s been positive to see themselves reflected in the leadership.”

Vancouver-raised Johnson grew up in the Evangelical Lutheran Church when it didn’t allow female clergy. And she says men continue to make up the majority of her denomination’s clergy.

So Johnson felt a “certain irony” when the Lutheran World Federation hit “quick alarm bells” after only a few men from North America showed up to its 2010 gathering in Europe. It immediately instituted affirmative-action measures to ensure more male delegates in the future.

Even though she is not overly worried about the trends, Johnson doesn’t want women to dominate her church in the future. Centrist denominations like hers, she says, need “the gifts” of both genders.

If men continue to stay away from the pews, Johnson said: “It would be a reverse kind of gender isolation, which wouldn’t be helpful.”

CLUSTER OF CAUSES

Johnson is not alone in believing there is a “giant cluster” of reasons behind why men are increasingly avoiding church.

Here is a rundown of some of the overlapping theories:

. The relative dearth of men in church is an age-old issue that’s just grown worse. The traditional image of the church and its adherents as the “bride of Christ,” for instance, is a turn off to men.

. Religion is typically less important to men than women, and nowhere more so than in Canada. Polls show Canadian women are 70 per cent more likely than men to say religion is “very important.”

. Churches tend to focus on “soft” feminine qualities, such as sharing, family and feelings. Bibby found 83 per cent of women believe “concern for others” is highly important, compared to only 67 per cent of men.

. Many men are avoiding the diminished status associated with an increasingly countercultural and aging institution such as the church, particularly one in which women predominate.

. Men, many say, tend to value rationality more than women. In Canada, men are 2.5 times more likely to follow atheism, which often pits reason against faith. In addition, critics say churches, since the 1970s, have become less “intellectual” as they have increasingly emphasized spiritual “experience.”

. While liberal Christians are careful to avoid stereotyping women, homosexuals or ethnic minorities, David Giuliano, a former moderator of the United Church, said churches too-often reflect the secular culture in which the mass media and advertising often portray men, especially fathers, as Homer Simpson-style buffoons.

. Main line churches that allow females to be clergy are generally not attractive to immigrants, most of whom have grown up in patriarchal cultures. Asian immigrants to Canada are much more drawn to male-led evangelical or Catholic congregations.

SOLUTIONS TO IMBALANCE

Whatever the reasons, many churches “are just not offering what men need,” says Talbot.

What can they do to make men more welcome and valued?

Liberal and moderate congregations don’t want to return to a patriarchal system in which men were the only official decision makers, but Ewart and Grayston are at least impressed by the way evangelical churches have tried to tackle the problem head-on, through major programs for men, including Promise Keepers.

The Anglican scholar calls on increasingly feminized churches to make reforms. He urges them to find ways to again honour men – including for their so-called “masculine traits,” such as intellectual analysis, physical activity and even their sexual energy.

A fledgling men’s Christian spirituality movement is underway across North America, says Grayston – with the Franciscan friar Richard Rohr, author of From Wild Men to Wise Men, being one of its most mature figures.

Rev. Don Grayston urges churches to find ways to again honour men – including for their so-called “masculine traits,” such as intellectual analysis, physical activity and even their sexual energy.

However, in addition to the church developing men-friendly programs, Grayston says men, as individuals, also have to find the courage to step up to the spiritual plate.

“The women’s movement has left many men not knowing how to engage women, so they’ve backed off.

Whether in secular careers or the church, many men’s confidence has been undermined,” Grayston says.

At Mount Seymour United, Talbot wants to find additional ways to draw males into her congregation’s life. As she puts it, the health of the church is at stake.

“I really think that men and women need each other. So I would never want to become a place without both.”

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